He ain't heavy...He's my brother

I was doing some late night channel surfing in my hotel room in Vancouver when I came across a concert featuring popular old tunes. One of the songs performed was the moving ballad: "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother". When introducing the song, the singer explained the origin of the title. Over the years there had been different theories as to where the title came from. The most popular one being a magazine picture published in the 1940's showing a young boy carrying his frail, polio stricken brother on his back. The caption of the photo reads: "He ain's heavy; he's my brother."

As I listened to the song, a quiet wave of saddness washed over me. I wondered why, during the darkest moment of my life, men who were supposed to be my brother abandoned me and casted me out rather than carrying me. Time has passed. But the wound remains open.

Call it another baby step forward, but tonight, as the tide of saddness gently receded, I I found myself not wishing for answers anymore. (Afterall, those who can provide the answers have long since gone on their merry way) Instead, I wished for opportunities for my life and experience to be useful to those who have been hurt, and perhaps like me, have been left by the roadside. As I stumble along, I hope there will be opportunites where I can pick up another person, put him on my back and set out on the road ahead together.

Jesus once said to those who are weary and "heavy ladened" to go to him to discover that "his burden is light". I have only lately begun to see the wisdom behind those words: We don't get to live "burden free" lives. We do, at times, get to choose what burden to carry. I have experienced the crushing heaviness of trying to carry the burden of the past. Perhaps as I slowly learn to look upward, forward and outward to see others whom my life can touch, as I learn to help carry the burden of others on my back, I will discover the truth behind the title of the song: "He ain't heavy, (for) He's my brother".